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Therefore, privacy in an open society requires anonymous
transaction systems. Until now, cash has been the primary
such system. An anonymous transaction system is not a
secret transaction system. An anonymous system empow-
ers individuals to reveal their identity when desired and only
when desired; this is the essence of privacy.
Privacy in an open society also requires cryptography. If I say
something, I want it heard only by those for whom I intend it.
If the content of my speech is available to the world, I have
no privacy. To encrypt is to indicate the desire for privacy,
and to encrypt with weak cryptography is to indicate not too
much desire for privacy. Furthermore, to reveal one’s identity
with assurance when the default is anonymity requires the
cryptographic signature. We cannot expect governments,
corporations, or other large, faceless organizations to grant
us privacy out of their beneficence
It is to their advantage to speak of us, and we should expect
that they will speak. To try to prevent their speech is to fight
against the realities of information. Information does not just
want to be free, it longs to be free. Information expands to fill
the available storage space. Information is Rumor’s younger,
stronger cousin; Information is fleeter of foot, has more eyes,
knows more, and understands less than Rumor.
We must defend our own privacy if we expect to have any.
We must come together and create systems which allow
anonymous transactions to take place. People have been
defending their own privacy for centuries with whispers,
darkness, envelopes, closed doors, secret handshakes, and
couriers. The technologies of the past did not allow for strong
privacy, but electronic technologies do.
We the Cypherpunks are dedicated to building anonymous
systems. We are defending our privacy with cryptography,
with anonymous mail forwarding systems, with digital signa-
tures, and with electronic money.
A
Cypherpunk’s Manifesto